History Links

Old Books Relevant to the History of the REC

Here are some old books, relevant to the history of the REC that have been digitized and are available for free download:

This book was written by Bishop Cummin's wife:
"Memoir of George David Cummins : first Bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church (1878)"
Author: Cummins, Alexandrine Macomb
Book Contributor: Trinity College - University of Toronto
Language: English
Keywords: Cummins, George David, Bp. 1822-1875
http://ia331305.us.archive.org/2/items/memoirofgeorgeda00cummuoft/memoirofgeorgeda00cummuoft.pdf

Other formats are available here:
http://www.archive.org/details/memoirofgeorgeda00cummuoft

Another interesting Book from the same archive is:
"Memoirs of the Reformed Episcopal Church : with contemporary reports respecting these and the Church of England, extracted & compared with previous history," approved by Bp. Cummins and the Council (1880)
http://www.archive.org/details/memoirsofepiscop00aycruoft
Author: Aycrigg, Benjamin
Book Contributor: Trinity College - University of Toronto
Language: English
Keywords: Reformed Episcopal Church
http://ia300032.us.archive.org/3/items/memoirsofepiscop00aycruoft/memoirsofepiscop00aycruoft.pdf

 

George David CumminsGeorge David Cummins
(1822-1876)

On November 10, 1873, he notified Bishop Smith that he was setting out to do God's work elsewhere, left his post in Kentucky, and removed himself to New York City.  There, after meetings with other like minded clergy and laity on December 2, 1873, he organized officially what was to become the "Reformed Episcopal Church."

http://chronicles.dickinson.edu/encyclo/c/ed_cumminsGD.html

Sorted Out
Book Review by John M. Campbell
"For the Union of Evangelical Christendom: The Irony of the Reformed Episcopalians," by The Rev. Allen C. Guelzo, Ph.D.

If you'd like to understand the Anglican cedar in America, as well as the Reformed Episcopal twig of it, read this brilliantly researched, engagingly written book by the Rev. Dr. Alan Carl Guelzo. Dr. Guelzo is the former academic dean of Reformed Episcopal Seminary in Philadelphia, where he taught apologetics and church history. While there he was a voice for the "New School" RE's, if you will, who seek to re-establish the evangelical, reformed, Anglican identity the REC was founded to perpetuate. This book recounts that original vision, what made it necessary, our forgetfulness, and our remembrance.

http://www.trinityrechurch.org/etc-sorted-out.html
The Story of Bishop Cummings Withdrawal
The Free Church of England

In 1876, the Free Church of England received its orders from the Reformed Episcopal Church which originated when the Rt Rev George Cummings withdrew from the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1873. The two churches united in 1927.

 The story of Bishop Cummings withdrawal is told by Revd Dr William Wilson Manross in his History of the American Episcopal Church, (1959). After describing Cummings' irenic resolution of 1865, following the Civil War [p292/3] the author goes on to give us the picture of a peace loving evangelical who was forced by his conscience to go a separate way:
http://www.fcofe.freeserve.co.uk/


The Reformed Episcopal Church
A Sermon Preached in Christ Church, Chicago

Sunday Evening, December 7, 1873
by the Rev. Charles Edward Cheney, D.D.

Chicago: Perry, Morris & Sultzer, 1874.

"But we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest: for as concerning this sect, we know that every where it is spoken against."--Acts 28:22

Project Canterbury
http://justus.anglican.org/resources/pc/usa/rec/cec_dec1873.html


The History & Founding Principles
of the Reformed Episcopal Church

On November 10, 1873 the Assistant Bishop of Kentucky of the Protestant Episcopal Church wrote his letter of resignation to the Rt. Rev. Benjamin Bosworth Smith, D.D., Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Kentucky.

http://rechurch.org/history.htm


The Declaration of Principles and Their Historic Context

In the 19th Century, major changes occurred in the Anglican Communion, especially in the Protestant Episcopal Church in America. As a result of a liberal movement in the previous century (18th), some began to argue that the English Reformation was wrong and that Anglicanism should return to a more Medieval Church.

To do so, however, meant a significant departure from historic Episcopalianism. As a result, there was a concern on the part of others to protect what can be called the Anglicanism of the English Reformation.

http://www.providencerec.org/history/declaration.html

The Lambeth Conference and the Reformed Episcopal Church

The 1941 Report submitted to the Bishops of the Anglican Communion concerning the validity of Holy Orders of the Reformed Episcopal Church

Project Canterbury

http://justus.anglican.org/resources/pc/orders/orders2.html

Providence Reformed Episcopal Church
1201 Morgan Ave. Corpus Christi, TX 78404;  Tel. 1 (361) 728-3720